The preseason BlogPoll was due today and below is our ballot. During the season, the final ballot won't be due until Wednesday, so we will put a draft up on Monday and let you tell us where we are complete idiots. The complete listing of ballots and overall results can be seen over here at CBSSports.com.
Since it is such a crap shoot after the first 4 teams, we passed this ballot around internally and I was quite surprised with the varying opinions regarding teams like Ole' Miss, Cal, Notre Dame, Oregon and LSU. Below is a collection of our thoughts on where each team should be, so let us know what you think.
Update: We just learned this morning of technical difficulties regarding the poll set-up, so now we can take your opinions into account and resubmit a ballot by Wednesday.
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| 1 |  |
A no brainer. Return 18 starters, including all 11 on defense and of course are lead by Tim Tebow. Toughest road game is at LSU, plus Georgia in Jacksonville, while Tennessee, Arkansas and FSU all visit the Swamp. | |
| 2 |  |
Another no brainer. They return 16 starters, including 9 on offense. Toughest stretch is in October, where they play Oklahoma in Dallas and then travel to Missouri and Oklahoma State. | |
| 3 |  |
The Sooners have to replace 4 starters on the offensive line, but return 9 starters on defense. With Sam Bradford back and their top 3 RB's, this offense should be explosive once again. The Oct. 17th date with Texas looms large. | |
| 4 |  |
Hopefully will only be here for a few weeks, but 9 offensive starters return, including their entire 2 depp on the line. Will be breaking in a new QB, but they return plenty of fire power in the backfield. 3 of first 5 are on the road, including OSU and Cal. | |
| 5 |  |
Could be a paper tiger here, but they return 16 starters and don't have Florida or Georgia on the schedule. They also get LSU, Alabama and Arkansas at home. 3 of the first 4 are on the road, but 6 of last 8 are at home. | |
| 6 |  |
15 starters return off a 9-4 team, including RB Jahvid Best and QB Kevin Riley. Tough stretch starting game 3, where they travel to Minnesota, then to Oregon before coming home to face USC. | |
| 7 |  |
Will have to replace leadng rusher and passer, but have 9 starters back on D and Julio Jones on offense. Face V. Tech to start season, but miss Florida and Georgia and get LSU at home. | |
| 8 |  |
Tempted to drop them lower after the performance we saw at Saturday's scrimmage, but the D-Line will be a force and TP is a difference maker. Also, can't justify putting any teams behind them in the top 8. | |
| 9 |  |
Only 9 starters return off last year's Rose Bowl team, but they get the services of Sean Lee back to compliment Navorro Bowman. Evan Royster will carry the load at RB, but they need to replace 3 WR's and 3 OL. Weak OOC schedule helps the cause. | |
| 10 |  |
Offense will be something special with Zac Robinson and crew, returning 7 starters off a team that averaged 41 points a game. Open the season with Georgia at home, but also get Mizzou, Texas and T. Tech in Stillwater. | |
| 11 |  |
Return 15 starters, but need to replace Moreno and Stafford. Schedule is tough, with OOC games against Oklahoma St., Arizona State (home) and at Georgia Tech to end the season. Richt seems to do best when all the pressure is not on him. |
| 12 |  |
The Tigers return 14 starters and play a tough road slate, including Washington, Georgia, Alabama and Ole' Miss. The Hat has his top 4 rushers, 2 passers and 3 of 4 WR's back, to go along with his top 4 tacklers. |
| 13 |  |
Return 16 starters, including 9 on offense. However, they took a hit when leading rusher Darren Evans tore a knee ligament early in camp. OOC shcedule is tough, opening with 'Bama, Marshall, Nebraska and then start conference play with Miami, all before October. |
| 14 |  |
Have 11 starters coming back off a team that went 11-1. Will have to replace top rusher and 3 of 4 wideouts, but do return QB Kellen Moore, who completed 69% of his passes for 3486 yards last year, as a freshman. Open next Thursday at home against Oregon. |
| 15 |  |
We still don't believe the hype, although they return 9 starters on offense and have an easier than usual schedule. Only 1 ranked team (USC) appears on their slate of games, but until they prove something on the field, we won't pay attention. |
| 16 |  |
Only 13 starters return overall, but their offense should be one of the conference's best. Start off with Missouri, but have a bye week before playing Ohio State. Finish the season at Cincinnati and home against Fresno State. |
| 17 |  |
We had to put a Big East team in here and the Scarlet Knights won by default. 13 starters return and their OOC is weak, with Howard, FIU, Maryland, Army and Texas Southern. Open against Cincinnati on Labor Day. |
| 18 |  |
Probably won't be here for long, as they open with Oklahoma and face Florida State 2 weeks later. However, they return 8 starters on defense and their top RB and QB from last year. |
| 19 |  |
Have reached double digit wins in 5 of the last 7 seasons. Return just 10 starters and travel to Virginia and Clemson before September is over. They also return their top RB and QB from a year ago. |
| 20 |  |
Still need to see who the QB and RB will be, but 15 other starters are back, including 8 on defense. Travel to Notre Dame, Wisconsin and Illinois, but get UM, Iowa and PSU at home, plus they don't face Ohio State. |
| 21 |  |
The Hawkeyes return 14 starters, including 8 on defense, from last year's 9-4 team. Iowa gets an early test with Arizona traveling to Iowa City and then they go to Penn State. Other road games are at Whisky, MSU and OSU. |
| 22 |  |
The Ducks welcome in new head coach Chip Kelly with 9 returning starters and a tough schedule. The season starts at Boise, then Purdue, Utah and Cal come to Eugene. They also get USC and Oregon State at home. |
| 23 |  |
15 starters return from their 9-4 team last year, but they are still lead by The Wannstache and as long as he is at the helm, they'll never reach expectations. Should compete for Big East title with Rutgers and WVU. |
| 24 |  |
Another team that enters by default due to the uneven divisions in the B12. 13 starters return from a 9-4 team and minus the V.Tech game, their OOC schedule is weak. They miss Texas and get Oklahoma at home. |
| 25 |  |
This is our wild card team, with 14 starters back from a 7-6 team. Their top 5 RB's return, along with QB Colin Kaepernick, who ran for over 1100 and passed for 2849. They open the season in South Bend, so there is another reason we root for them. |
Comments
You have Illinois a lot higher than the main polls. Are they missing something, or are you?
Can't believe the jersey scrimmage sucked so badly. What the heck have these guys been doing all off-season?
Illinois is going to have a great offense, which alone could win them some games. We think they will beat Mizzou in the opener and play OSU close. They also get PSU and MSU at home (they don't play Iowa) and have 2 bye weeks in the middle of the season. There is a realistic chance they will be 8-2 entering the final 2 games, which will both be played after the B10 season.
I would switch PSU and OSU. You mention the schedules that some of the teams play. If you are judging based on schedules, I don't see how you can put OSU over PSU. PSU gets a cake non-conference schedule and OSU at home. OSU gets USC and Navy, and the option can slay giants. I may be wrong, but if memory serves PSU gets Iowa at home as well. The jersey scrimmage makes me very concerned about the team.
I think it would help if 11W could elaborate on their metric in ranking (which are the best teams regardless of schedule, or where you think the teams will end up in the final blogpoll, etc).
I didn't understand the comment for Penn State about them having to replace a QB??
You're really, really high on Cal. Fitting, since it's in Berkeley, I guess, but Jahvid Best has yet to show up against the best teams on their schedule.
I agree, isn't Clark back??
Brain fart by the author.
Good call Matt. For this poll, schedules and returning starters were taken into account, to give us some parameters to use. Once games are played and we are choosing between 2 teams, we ask one simple question:
Who would beat who on a neutral field?
We originally had PSU ahead of OSU and there are question marks on both teams, but we should find out if it can be justified in less than 2 weeks.
It's a really good point. The first thing that jumped out at me when I looked at the Buckeyes' schedule was that Big Ten opener against a senior Juice Williams, plus Benn. They're dangerous, and rushed for over 300 yards against us in last year's game. But they haven't been getting any love in the polls at all. Juice isn't listed as part of SI's top-10 players in the Big Ten. Strange...it really does seem like people have overlooked them.
It could be that the 11W guys are geniuses...we'll just have to let it all happen.
I think Iowa is better than Sparty, and Sparty better than Illinois. Their offense may get them out of a jam or two but when the Juice is having a bad day I doubt they do well.
Really thinking this is gonna be a step up year for the Big Ten. Its put up or shut up time but I think some teams will certainly surprise and shut the mouths of critics who keep talking garbage about the conference. Its TBD, but one thing's for certain. Its almost go time boys!
I still am not convinced the scrimmage is a good way to measure how Ohio State will play in 2 weeks. Let's see how they play against Navy before we get too hasty. If they put up another preformance like they did against Ohio U last year, then we can panic.
I keep seeing/reading that Navy is going to be tough because of the option etc, but when was the last time that they really beat a good team? I know they knocked off Notre Dame one time, but other than that is there a big time team they've knocked off
They haven't beaten a USC, Florida or LSU, but they've beaten Wake Forest, Pitt, Rutgers, and just barely lost to a ten-win Boston College outfit a few years back. All of those teams had 8 or more wins, albeit in relatively weaker leagues than the BXI and with softer non-conference schedules.
I hate the Gators more than Michigan and Notre Dame combined.
I'm getting there....Herban Meyers face makes me wanna stab things.
But my hatred for all things scUM still takes top rankings.
I am with you. The 'Gator fans have created a whole new genre of fandom: A complete lack of class and graciousness after WINNING.
And frequent usage of mullets and jorts, that when combined with a can of Skoal and some High Life create a holy trinity of redneckdom.
High Life is the CHAMPAGNE of beers!!!!!
I think they're partial to Natty light down there.
so was I......in 8th grade
natty > high life
off topic, but does anyone know where I can get an OSU beer tap handle?
http://www.worthpoint.com/wort...
Try to googling Ohio State beer tap, OSU beer tap etc.
If I was Illinois' opposition, I'd be scared of their offense. If I was an Illini fan, I'd be scared of Ron Zook.
Hippie.
The Internet.
thanks bud. i appreciate the response.
seriously though, ive looked and have only been able to find one, and it sucked.
Tebow loves
C oach
U rban
M eyer
I knew they were ranked recently and had solid teams, but are they better than Michigan State, Iowa, Wisconsin, and other teams we run into through out the year. Maybe it is a tough opponent for the first game but I just don't see them giving the bucks a hard time.
Just google it. There are hundreds of sites that sell everything Buckeye.
The fact that we had the number 2 preseason team in the nation on the ropes last year makes this poll total bs.
Pryor is leaps and bounds ahead of where he was last year passing and reading d's.
The wideouts are more explosive then last year.
Plus the D-line is going to be beast. I think we all looked at that during the off season and thought it would be nasty. Judging from the last jersey scrimmage it looks like the front will get pressure without blitzing. Any team that can pressure with the front 4 is going to cause problems for a spread attack(see Giants vs Pats). Florida, Texas, and OU all run some version of a spread O. If we can take care of USC there could be pay back the first week of Jan. GoBucks and now it is time to go play some hold em' at the track.
Ps good news about Decker. I might stop by the jail with my troy smith jersey just to say hello.
you have two types of gators fans. The paternal tit suckin bmw driving kind or the redneck "florida Cracker" type. Both of which I can't stand.
the buckeyecorner.com sells hand sanitizer with the ohio state logo on it...
in this time of swine flu, that might be a key purchase as the season approaches!
e-bay has EVERTHING
USC at 4 boggles my mind. Let's not talk about 9 starters being replaced on defense, let's talk about replacing the offensive and defensive coordinators.
Also, the horseshoe is not a good place to break in a fresh QB. I know we've been "down" the past few years but we're not exactly San Jose State either...
I think we're overrated. Losing Beanie and a three time all american linebacker is huge.
Just think,
1. we're counting on a soph qb who wasn't a great passer
2. an o-line that flat out sucked half the time
we're gonna struggle to score, and we could end un 8-4. just sayin
and Im not impressed by Homan, Spitler, Wothington , Larimore, Chekwa, or Amos
Jeez Iball tell us how you really feel
It's not that they're a great opponent, it's that they're a difficult offense to defend, and even more difficult breaking in a new set of LBs. This is probably the best non-BCS OOC opponent we've played under Jim Tressel.
I think we'll win running away, because the only teams who beat us lately can either beat us through the air or pummel us with a pass rush, and Navy can do neither.
I personally think this team will be better this year. I think the player that will be missed the most is Jenkins. You can see 8-4, but I could see 12-0 just as easily. I'm not saying that's what they'll do, but I don't think this team is over rated at all. I think Alabama, USC, and Oklahoma have just as many question marks and they are in the top 5.
As a non Columbus resident, the general vibe coming off the reports about this team has me worried. It sounds like the beaten down/we can't beat anyone who is good vibe is entrenched. Hopefully I am completely wrong and am an idiot for thinking this way
The worst part for me, is the doubt that I see from people who do really like this team. I mean I don't count the Texas game with USC/Florida/LSU games. I know it was still a loss, but it was definitely the best bowl game, and they had the best team other than Florida on the ropes until the last minute. I like a lot of what I saw in that game.
I think it is natural to have doubts and to be excited about this team all at the same time. Even when the team returned all that talent and was loaded last year I had doubts but was excited at the possiblities. In '02, I didn't expect the team to win every game and that turned out okay. This year, I think there are more questions then there are answers. With such a HUGE (usc) game looming so early in the season those answers are needed fast. If LiC can become an improved passer and we fill in the gaps on the defense, I'm sure we will be able to compete with anyone. This team has two very capable talented RBs, is LOADED at receiver, the D is always strong, and has this amazing talent at QB who may just be the greatest thing since Troy Smith. In 11 days we should have some answers.
We will know after week 2 where we stand. Lose, and it's time to focus on winning the B10. Win, and the pressure is doubled. I personally will not be too upset if we happen to lose to SC, a conference championship and Rose bowl win make a nice season, despite what the critics say.
What worries me is Pryors ability to complete third and long passes. He will without a doubt be put in that position this season.
I agree about Pryor completing the thrid and long passes, but in order for him to make those throws he will need time.
I think his progression will be much like Troy Smiths, only he has more talent than Troy in my honest opinion. Maybe at first 3rd and long won't be pretty every time, but by the Penn State game he will be very good. That's my opinion. At the same time, he's had a wole offseason to inmprove, and he's yet to see game action. I'm not going to judge how far along he has come based off of practice. I know that's all we have to this point, but it's just not always going to be the same in a game atmosphere. Some guys just step it up when it's game time.
I believe that he has more physical talent than Troy. Troy missed all of spring when he shared time with Zwick for some kind of violation. The next year Smith got his time during spring drills he looked like a super star. If Terrelle can have similar growth with his passing game over an off-season…..wow.